Hillsborough police chief resigns

He tendered his resignation ahead of a meeting today which was scheduled to consider his role in the aftermath of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, which he investigated for South Yorkshire Police, West Yorkshire Police Authority vice-chair Les Carter confirmed.

Sir Norman has been under growing pressure since the Hillsborough Independent Panel report was published and he is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

In a statement issued through the authority, Sir Norman said he had never blamed the fans for the tragedy.

"I have always felt the deepest compassion and sympathy for the families, and I recognise their longing to understand exactly what happened on that April afternoon.

"I have never blamed the fans for causing the tragedy."

Sir Norman dismissed reports of a conversation he had in a pub in which he allegedly said he was "concocting" a story for South Yorkshire Police.

He said; "The suggestion that I would say to a passing acquaintance that I was deployed as part of a team tasked to 'concoct a false story of what happened', is both incredible and wrong. That isn't what I was tasked to do, and I did not say that."

Sir Norman said the police authority and some of the candidates in the forthcoming PCC elections made it clear that they wanted him to go.

"I do so, not because of any allegations about the past, but because I share the view that this has become a distraction to policing in West Yorkshire now and in the future."